Translate

Welcome to my fun little site. My name is Sheila, you may know me as Sassy Lady. I am a Chicago transplant to the Birmingham, Alabama area. I like to say I am southern by the grace of God! My blog was started to share with family and friends my love for scrapbooking and of course special moments with those around me. Being an avid scrapper I also dabble in card making as I love to remember people and their special times with a card. Click Here To Read More!

Copyright Notice

Unless otherwise stated within the post, this is my original work or design. You are free to use any of my designs as INSPIRATION for your own personal use. My work is not for use for publication, contest, message board entries or for profit. If my designs inspire you in any way please give credit where credit is due. If you post information about my files to any message board or mail group, please direct users to this blog rather than attaching the file itself. Leave me a comment and by all means post a link to my blog. Thank you!

December 31, 2010

Each year we reflect on the time gone by and decide what we need to change about ourselves. We make these long wonderful lists, go on diets and budgets and even resolve to spend more time with the family.... but do we follow through?

All of us are well intended but according to Wikepedia only 52% of participants setting goals were even confident in making them. 12% of the people actually achieved their goals and men were 22% more successful when setting their goals and women were 10% more successful if they made their goals public.

So that is what we need to do make our goals public to increase our success rate. Today I am going to ask you to list 1 resolution that you want to make as your goal for the year and post it as a comment so that I may help your odds of being successful. I am even going to encourage you with blog candy. SERIOUS though I want you to be Serious... a real goal not general. Example I am going to Dallas for the Circle swarm I have lost 16 pounds since October and I am making my goal for 10 pounds more by March 18th! I even give you permission to ask me my countdown number as I want to be successful, don't you?What do you resolve to do in 2011? Tell us for a better chance to succeed as well as to have an opportunity to win this great blog candy! The Lyrical Letters cart will go to one lucky follower that has the courage to stand by her convictions and share her realalistic New Years Resolution! And don't worry we will all keep it a secret! NOT! Be sure to leave me your email address so I can reach you. Now be sure to leave your comment by 9PM CST January 1st, 2011 including your resolution complete with a date you will accomplish by and be a follower to qualify. Winner will be announced at 5:00AM on the 2nd.

December 30, 2010

Well hello, it's Sheila aka SassyLady today I want to show you what it takes to become a Sassy Card that some lucky person will receive in the mailbox. It isn't easy and I make lots of blunders before the final card is actually sent. Let me take you down the wrong road first... Along with a crooked little mug this little guy has had a hard time just making it to card form. Let's face it we all go through projects like this but the main thing is to keep going until we have a final project. Hang in there with me.

The above card became a prototype. This card is a time eater, well the prototype was because of my blunders!

Let me say that the cut size is perfect!!! No problems with the size, I laid the paper wrong on the mat and boy did that create a mess! and I think that is why his little mug never fit right, or it could be when I flipped the card becasue the color had a little flaw... I ran into the problems putting this little gem together too. Let's go through this step by step. The cut is wonderful, just be sure you cut one accetate of the plain box. I think I bumped my head when I decided to flip the base card!

I put all my pieces in a zip lock bag... notice the ribbon it never made it to the final card. I remembered it after all pieces were intact and you can not take the window out after you have everything glued down. I always put the ribbon on last... not so with this card. To put together properly place all your top pieces together and also your ribbon then adhere the window, frame and zebra pieces. Reserve tying until the card is put together.

Next problem I didn't want the window to move so I used the zig two-way glue all along the edge. Don't do it!!! The glue got too close to the edge and went on the accetate.... what a nightmare trying to remove this. The right way is to use your ATG or I used the Glue Glider Pro along the edge. Then I ran into the next couple of problems. I used my Zyron and ran the frame and zebra pieces thru. Oh it worked great except for the little glue balls that come off of that. On normal paper it would be fine. I am using accetate as a little window.... it looks wonderful until you get glue or glue balls on it and you try to clean off! I have had baked on chicken, beans or pork chops that come off a glass baking dish easier than getting that glue off! So use the ATG guns for the frame and very carefully the Zip Dry Glue or ATG for the little bodies.

See the glue didn't even get that close...

It looks even, doesn't it? Wrong it seeped out. Be VERY careful if you use glue.

Now doesn't that look cute witht the window in? Now just add the body part layers.

I used a white mat on the bottom and then I took the piece that came out of the frame and placed back in the window added some Zip Dry Glue and brought my back up to the front so it would be centered perfectly from the window.

I left the little eye pieces in so it would look like the back of the zebras head.

This is the completed prototype ready for a final cut and some bright Sassy papers. Mind you this card is good as it is, and I will use and send out. I guarantee you the little window is clean!!! But to be a Sassy Card ready for give-away it must go together easier and look great, so this is the right way to put this card together...

First I picked out a yummy paper and cut. Then I placed all the items in a little baggie for when I had time to put together. If you do this at home be sure to prepare all pieces ahead of time. I trimmed the frame just under an 1/8" so it would close properly.

I made sure to mark the top with a little arrow, leaving now margin for error, and placed it in the little baggie.

I chalked his/her little mug and make sure if you do this at home to make the mouth darker and keep the little mouth in reserve.

Notice I took a little piece of mesh and placed behind the head since out gypsy does not do hide contour I wanted to keep those eyes so they would be glued down for the back of it's head. I started sticking my other little parts on it too so nothing would get lost.

When it was time to put my kit together I got out my Zip Dry, Glue Glider Pro and the little kit. I set aside 10 minutes to do this and it took twelve.

Take your goodies out of your little bag you made and get them in order. That way you will make sure you have everything and you will move faster in the long run. You will also have a good idea of what order to assemble. I try to make 5 cards per week so I always have something on hand to do during my down times. If I miss my lunch with the ladies I just close myself up in the office later in the day and make a little card with one of my handy kits. Some cards are easy and only takes 3 minutes to put together, but not this one!

Here is a good shot of the Zebra and his/her little face attached to the mesh.... no lost parts here.

Then I just start assembling, easy as 1-2-3!

The front of my card went exactly as planned I even remember to put the ribbon on this time before glueing in the window!

Then I glued around the entire edge and on his/her little body... notice how the ribbon is taped down? I didn't want it to fall off in this process. I did not place a bow in until the card was completely together.

I then placed the accetate down.

Then I used my Glue Pro Glider around the entire edge of the frame and placed it on the card. Lining up the bottom and sides.

See how nicely it fits and it is so nice and colorful. I then added the white of the Zebra, and then used Zip Dry glue to the black of the Zebra remembering to place a small piece of ribbon around the neck and tape down before completed and placed the Zebra back onto the window. It looks as if one piece because it matched perfectly.

I adhered my paper to the inside bottom of the card so the inside matched perfectly.

Doesn't that look nice?

The card looks nice from all directions. I love this paper from the DCVW Mariposa stack.

Now see how much easier it is when you know what you are doing. I love the little window in this card and you know, its ok to see handwritting through it. I remember a couple of years back finding a letter from my wonderful Aunt Marion and I just stared at it without even reading just remembering how special she was to me. You see she has been gone for many years, but I recognized her handwritting and imediately my heart was filled with love and my head was filled with fond memories of times gone by. So thats where the Sass is in this weeks card... just a sweet little glimpse of special little words that your loved one will hold onto and treasure for a lifetime!

I know this was a long post today, but hopefully you learned something new and if nothing else will continue with a project to completion in the future rather than just scrap it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Remember the recipient will never know where your mistakes are, only you will.

December 29, 2010

Hi Ya Everyone!
This is Melissa again from MelissaMade and I'm so excited to be doing an extra spot here at She's A Sassy Lady to provide you with more inspiration for using stamps even if you don't like to color. Last time I taught you how to paper piece. Today, I will teach you how to make your own paper using digital stamps. I use a program from Microsoft Office called PowerPoint which is a presentation program. You can use any program that will allow you to use and manipulate pictures. I will show you with PowerPoint but you can adjust for your own needs. First, I insert a picture and here I'm using a digital stamp from Christy Croll at Tiddly Inks called Schoolgirl and she comes with a number of books which I use for both images:

These two images will form the images for my digital paper. Next, I copy the images repeatedly to allow a whole row of images and paste them twice. In order to line up the images I use the line tool and draw a straight line and place it under the images and adjust them to line up.

At this point I select all the images at once - you can either hold down Control and the letter A at the same time or you can hold the control button down and select each image. Once all the images are selected right click and group the images together.

When they are grouped you can copy and paste them down the paper. I like a bit of a staggered look so I staggered mine and added an extra image to the side and alternated each row.

I repeated this process until I had a whole page filled with these images.

Next, I took a piece of paper from my Tim Holtz Ideology stack and cut it down to an 8.5 x 11 sheet. I put it in my printer and printed my page.

I needed to add some masculine cards to my stash and thought a birthday card and matching bookmark would be appropriate. I used the paper for both!

This is a very short tutorial but one I love because you can have any type of paper you need. You can also match digital images with background paper like I did for this card.

Have a wonderful day and if you have any questions please do so in the comments. Thank you so much for stopping by today and remember that I love comments!
Hugs,
Melissa